Winds of Change
by Fallen Angel of Slovakia
Summary: Storm looms on the horizon... Winds of Change bring it closer and closer each day... The darkness... the cold... the rain... Will anyone survive? And if so, will the victory be worth the sacrifice?
1. Revelations

**AN: Hello, Fallen here. Well, let me say sorry to people who liked my other stories. I haven't updated them in a long time and I will not for a long time. My notebook went K.O. and everything I had is just gone. I have planned to rewrite Ghost anyway, so no biggie there. TSOAS on the other hand... I lost one finished chapter and thirty rough drafts... I have also lost rough draft for time-travel side story. At first I thought I would continue TSOAS, but it's full of mistakes and bullshit, so I decided I'll try something new and TSOAS will get a rewrite as well. I'll be pulling down both soon enough.**

**I hope you'll enjoy this story, it's AU although not as big as Ghost and TSOAS. It'll contain Fem!Root!ANBU!Bloodline!Smart!Prodigy!Naru. And it'll have yuri pairing, because women are the single most beautiful beings in the world and the only thing better than one is two of them ;) My English might be a bit rusty, so there could be typos and other mistakes. Please let me know about them so I can fix them and get myself back into good shape.**

**Also, dates are in this format: Day/Month Year Era Example: 8(D)/7(M) 3034(Y) EE(E), EE = Elemental Era, there will be few more that will be mentioned.**

**Important notice: This story is written by an adult (by physical age, mental age is... questionable) for adults. As such it may, and most likely will, contain adult themes and graphic depictions of actions related to them. This contains: Adultery, gore, violence, drug abuse, rape, murder, suicide and other things that can be considered for mature audiences only. If you are not considered an legal adult, please do not read this story. If any of the abovementioned things upset you and may cause unwanted and unneeded reaction, then please refrain from reading as well. **

**Disclaimer: The world of Naruto and its characters belong to the copyright owners of said franchise. This story is written merely for my amusemet and for free entertainment of others. I, in no way, shape or form, attempt to make money off of it, nor I ever will.**

**4.5. 2014 EDIT:  
**

**- added info to AN**

**- fixed mistakes**

**Winds of Change**

**Chapter 1 - Revelations**

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 0658hrs, Tuesday, 3/7 3034 EE, Kage Office, Hokage Tower - Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage, Sarutobi Clan Head

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed wearily. Times like this made him regret taking "The Hat" back. Storm was coming. The clouds couldn't be seen, neither flashes of lighting, nor could anyone hear the howling of winds - not yet. Eyes and ears could be deceived, but healthy and focused mind - not so easily. Despite his age, Hiruzen liked to believe his mind was still as sharp as in his younger days. He wasn't called "The Professor" for no reason, after all.

Cloud was destabilized, plagued by problems with missing-nin and low amount of easier missions for novice ninja, but still held military power that could rival Leaf's own. From the latest reports, however, it was clear the rogue ninja problem would be dealt with in two months at longest. Then, Cloud would be able to focus again.

Rock was silent. Too silent. The reports didn't mention anything outstanding at all. No special comings or goings. No diplomatic agreements, no suspicious ANBU activity, no ninja going rogue, no missing ninja successfully caught. No information on their jinchuuriki. This could mean only two things - either their spies were discovered and fed false information or something really big was going on - something that needed to stay secret at all cost and only few knew about what was going on and they wanted to lay low, the proverbial silence before the storm. Either one was bad and he wasn't sure which one was worse.

Sand, one of Leaf's allies, was in recession. The Wind Daimyo was cutting the funding, each year giving less than the previous one - reason: unknown. He even started sending majority of requests to Leaf. At first, Sarutobi managed to push most of them Sand's way, but he couldn't anymore for Fire Daimyo's interference. He didn't know what were their reasons, nor did he really care. What he cared about were the declining relations. The alliances between ninja villages were fragile - for obvious reasons: They were alliances between two organizations focused on assassination, subterfuge, sabotage and espionage - several backstabbers claiming they were friends. Not based on trust, but on survival instinct shared by all of them. And now Leaf looked like it was trying to suffocate Sand - not good, not good at all. Not to mention Sand's already lacking military was slowly falling apart.

Mist was still closed, the purges and civil war still raging like a wild beast. But they were coming to an end. Yes, it would still take at least half decade, but it was inevitable. Yagura and Water Daimyo were losing more troops than they could afford - the mass attacks that proven successful and effective against rebels in the beginning were now the exact opposite - the rebels adapted and changed their strategy from the standard combined army tactics with big units and battles into smaller groups using guerrilla tactics that slowly, but surely, picked Yagura's big armies apart. But each side was weak already when compared to even Sand's military. And they would grow even weaker before the end of war. Sarutobi highly doubted they would be able to take up the mantle of one of the top five again. This probably meant more wars - minor nations trying to prove which one was strong enough to become a big player while Mist would try to put up, most likely pitiful, fight to keep its position.

Then there was Rain - almost 370 years of perpetual war came to an end. All of the warlords and missing-nin were either purged or kneeled before their new lord - some even called him god. And that was disturbing. If someone was powerful enough to unite nation torn to shreds and stitch it back together, they could prove to be very dangerous indeed. Not to mention if their subordinates believed them being divine, they would do anything to win their favour - strong belief was very dangerous weapon for those who found themselves at the wrong end. In fact, Hiruzen wouldn't be surprised to see Rain become the new member of Top Five - if their god kept up the pace, uniting what was pretty much a battlefield into country in a year without really gathering any attention at all until the very end of the war. Not to mention nobody outside Rain knew their identity - or anything else about the ruling body whatsoever. Spies were either caught on the borders and sent back, or got in, but went MIA, possibly captured - although Hiruzen hoped for KIA, without making any real progress inside the country.

Then there was his late pupil. Orochimaru lay low for a few years, but became active again lately. He was building bases in several countries for whatever reason. The locations were yet unknown and it troubled him. The sooner he put an end to this matter, the better. Orochimaru, however, also joined an unknown group.

This group - or organization, if you so wish - wasn't revealed until recently. Name wasn't known at current time, nor were motives and goals. What was known were some members - Orochimaru of the Sannin, Kakuzu of the Waterfall, both ranked as High S level threats in the bingo books. Intel suggested they were not the only S-Rank criminals who were members. Other suspected were Sasori of the Red Sands and Hoshigaki Kisame with few others, though nobody found enough information to at least guesstimate their identity. This group was highly dangerous - a serious threat to every nation. If S-Rank ninja, who preferred working alone, actually started grouping together, something was going on. And the Third Hokage highly doubted it was just gardening club.

Storm was coming. And he would make sure Leaf came out on top. Even if it would cost him his life. He didn't want to do this until now, but in hindsight, his sentiments were foolish. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to turn her into mindless drone, she would just become what she was meant to be a little sooner. With her heritage and the traits she already displayed, plus a few other things, there was no doubt she would pursue the career of kunoichi - so why not give her the means to become one of the best?

He pushed a hidden button on his desk and soon, the doors on his office opened. In walked his current "secretary" - a Chunin on duty. She was quite the pretty thing, pale skin, black hair falling down in waves and captivating eyes. Despite the baggy standard issue uniform, her figure was still visible and more than few men couldn't tear their eyes off of her. And she wasn't even adult yet - in terms of age. Once she would reach her prime, she would be quite the eye candy - a very dangerous one - he reminded himself of her icy stares of pure loathing reserved for everyone who would let their eyes linger on her even for a few seconds. Or perhaps it were the intents and emotions in the lingering eyes.

"Yuuhi-san," he smiled his grandfatherly smile "would you be so kind and cancel all of the appointments for today and distribute them evenly on the remaining days of this week. If some of them don't fit into the schedule, put them on Thursday's evening - I will be staying longer."

She bowed her head slightly and left to work on her assignment. The smile disappeared from Sarutobi's face and he turned dead serious again. One simple, barely noticeable gesture, and an ANBU operative stood in front of his desk, his head bowed. He donned the standard black hooded ANBU jacket, under which he or she had the standard issue ANBU armour - lightweight armour plates, high durability cloth, many pockets and holsters, temperature control seals - all that good stuff. In addition, the armour was made so that gender of the one wearing it was hidden.

"Rise." at his order, the ANBU stood straight "Designation?"

The ANBU recited in distorted and monotone voice: "Mole-159/D-S-0987-Delta, at your service, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi nodded, remembering the information just in case - this matter was sensitive and if there were information leaks, he would make sure blood would leak from those who took part.

"Find Uzumaki Akiko, inform her she is summoned to the Kage Office today at 1400 hours. The sooner she knows, the better. After you inform her, summon elders at the same time, then return. Oh, and inform the elders we are to discuss the fate of our Jinchuuriki, but make sure nobody else knows. This is an S-Rank assignment. Go."

The ANBU bowed again and quickly left to find the Jinchuuriki and the elders.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 0721hrs, Tuesday, 3/7 3034 EE, Park of Silence, District 9 - Uzumaki Akiko, Orphan, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

The District 9 was one of the outskirt districts of Leaf. It was residential area occupied by higher class civilians - merchants, lawyers, few 'stars' as well - wealthier people. It was full of big villas and palaces with beautiful gardens. The whole place pompously declared the wealth of the people living here.

In the centre was the Park of Silence. Despite its slightly creepy name, it was a beautiful place with many exotic plants and flowers, streams, shrines and statues. True to its name, the park remained silent most of the time - sometimes eerily silent. Birds tended to avoid it for some reason and the people living in this district rarely wandered in here - most of them had gardens just as beautiful. There were not many visitors from other districts as well, those mostly came to either envy the wealth or try and catch a glimpse of the few popular people living here.

And that was why she loved this place. Some called her loner, some bookworm. Perhaps she was both, but she didn't care. The kids in orphanage were noisy and bothersome - perpetually annoying even. On the other hand, the park was silent and calming, and she could read in peace. She slipped here pretty much every day. The matrons were nervous wrecks when she started doing it, but now they tolerated it. They learned she would get away no matter what long ago. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't go back to the orphanage.

Walking on one of the paths in the park, she picked a tree for today. It was an old oak with strangely light coloured leafs, not very big, but still good enough for her to hide and have some privacy. She climbed up to one of the branches, sat down and took a book out of her bag. Ah, how she loved the peace and quiet here.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1344hrs, Tuesday, 3/7 3034 EE, Park of Silence, District 9 - Mole-159, ANBU BO Operative, Genjutsu Specialist

"Shit... SHIT! Not fucking good... First guard duty - first S-Rank... Seems fucking easy... Will be promoted soon... And the fucking subject likes to run away from 'home' and hide in quiet secluded places - in ninja village. FUCK! ME! Shit, calm down... I still have ten minutes to find where she is... 2 minutes to get back, 2 minutes for the checkpoints - I can skip some... JUST WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

"Please be quiet, you are annoying..."

The ANBU stopped in its tracks and turned to look at who said it. And there she was, in all her "glory" - sitting on a branch with book in hands while giving him an annoyed look. This was way too fucking much...

"DO YOU EVEN HAVE A FUCKING CLUE WHAT I HAD TO DO TO FIND YOU? DO YOU THINK IT'S FUCKING FINE TO JUST DISAPPEAR INTO THIN FUCKING AIR WITHOUT A FUCKING CARE IN THE FUCKING WORLD? WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, RUNNING AWAY FROM ORPHANAGE? WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU NOT THERE?"

Mole had to take a big breath in order not to suffocate and to calm down. The girl didn't seem to be affected by the outburst at all. Her face was as cold and as expressionless as when he first spotted her. The only indication she even heard him was one raised eyebrow.

"Very well, I don't know and I don't care. Yes, I think it's fine and what I think is my problem, not yours, all things considered. I am not there, because the people in Orphanage are annoying and noisy just like you. Anything else?"

Fucking little bitch... No, Mole, calm down, calm the FUCK down. You are BO ANBU now, you need to focus. You have a mission, S-Rank even. You will do it, yes you will. Deep breath, and here we go!

"Hokage-sama has requested your presence. You are to meet with him in 10 minutes. As you will not be able to reach him in this time on your own, I will assist you. Do you need help getting of the tre-!"

Only his reflexes saved him from getting hand-bagged mid-rant. The little shit threw her simple old brown leather handbag at her. And it was pretty heavy, too. When he removed the handbag from his field of vision, the girl was already down, standing in front of him in her yellow kimono with white sash and simple sandals. She was a bit on the small side, even for her age. Her skin was tanned, her hair was quite long, straight and blond. Her face had pretty, "heart" like shape and her eyes were of captivating and beautiful blue colour.

She nodded at him and took her handbag. "Well, at least you can catch bags."

And he had to carry this bitch? Life was so cruel... Without asking her anything - quite fed up with her antics - he yanked her up into his arms and left, only a cloud of smoke left behind.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1400hrs, Tuesday, 3/7 3034 EE, Kage Office, Hokage Tower - Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage, Sarutobi Clan Head

Sarutobi genuinely smiled when the little girl walked in and had to suppress a laugh when the visibly weary ANBU dragged himself in after her. The operative closed the door, bowed, and retreated into his guard position.

Meanwhile, the little girl marvelled the office. It was rather large, but its accessories were simple. The walls were of brown colour, with a few cabinets and few paintings. The floor was bare wood. In the middle stood simple table with simple chair on which the Hokage, fully dressed in his formal robes, sat. Around the table also stood the elders.

On his right was Utatane Koharu, Hiruzen's former teammate and current chief of Leaf's ninja hospital. She was a genjutsu specialist and accomplished med-nin, albeit her prowess in the subject wasn't nowhere near as good as Biwako's, Sarutobi's late wife - not to mention Tsunade and her skills. Her grey hair was up in a bun, her face set in a serious expression. She wore white kimono with ornate flower design of lavender colour with simple wooden sandals and white socks. Despite her age, Koharu was still a dangerous opponent. Maybe even more so than when she was younger.

Next to her stood another Hiruzen's teammate, Mitokado Homura. Aside from being an elder, he was also the director of the ninja academy. He was taijutsu and shurikenjutsu specialist, which meant he wasn't as dangerous as he used to be due to his age, but he was still ranked as High A threat for a reason. His hair was a mess of grey spikes, untameable even in his old age. His face was serious as well, but he held a small friendly smile on his face. His outfit was the standard Jonin uniform, aside from the Hokage, he was the only one still in standard active duty. His headband, however, wasn't tied around his head, but on his right bicep.

On Hiruzen's left side stood the last elder, one Shimura Danzo - or Boar-001/0-0-SC - the current ANBU Supreme Commander and the founder of Root, now called ANBU Division R. Skilled in kenjutsu, fuinjutsu and most importantly, ninjutsu - with his rare wind affinity and plethora of dangerous personal techniques, was one of the two High S-Rank threats in the room, the other being Hokage himself. The man wore the standard issue ANBU uniform and jacket, complete with the mask.

"Ah, Akko-chan, I see you have arrived. You must wonder why you were asked to come - I will tell you in a minute, but first let me introduce the people here. To my right," he gestured at the two elders "are my former teammates and now village elders. The woman is Utatane Koharu and the man is Mitokado Homura. The ANBU to my left" he now gestured at Danzo " is the ANBU Supreme Commander, one of many to wear the mask of boar. He is also an elder."

Hiruzen smiled again when the girl politely bowed and introduced herself, before continuing. "Now, I've called you for a few reasons, but first I will have to ask you to not talk about this to anyone when this meeting is over - not even to those who took part - without my permission." The little girl was taken aback by the strange request, but nodded nonetheless.

"Good, the first thing is that the Kyuubi wasn't destroyed by the previous Hokage." Aside from slight widening of eyes, the girl didn't seem affected, but Sarutobi let it sink a few more moments - not only to give her time to process it, but to suppress his own dread created by what he was about to say.

"The truth is, it was sealed - you have it inside you. You are not it, but it's held in your body."

The girl paled considerably, her tanned skin turning into sickly beige. She started hyperventilating and Hokage was glad Koharu was here. She had the most experience with helping people overcome shocks out of them, for obvious reasons. Besides, she was also a woman and most likely much better at dealing with kids than the three of them combined. The female elder didn't waste any time and rushed to the child's side, kneeling down and hugging her while whispering calming words to her.

It took a while, but soon the girl was calm enough for them to continue. Honestly, Hiruzen expected way worse reaction and he predicted it would take at least hour for her to calm down enough. Perhaps the possibility of complete apathy was even higher than the evaluations suggested. That didn't matter right now, though.

"The second thing is, I'd like to offer you a chance to become ninja and give you the means to become a really strong one. You have the talents for it, I'm sure you could become great if you chose to become a kunoichi. Not to mention, your parents were also ninja - and strong ones at that. Surely, you'd like to follow in their footsteps? Even surpass them someday, hm?"

The girl nodded meekly, she wanted to be ninja from the first time she read a book about them. Despite not acting like one most of the time, she was still a child. Under the thick layer of "distilled smartasshole" - a personality trait she picked up from adults, who wanted to be left alone just like she did - she was still an innocent child with childish hopes and dreams, being kunoichi was one of them. Kunoichi were cool, and what kid doesn't want to be cool? Still, her enthusiasm - although she didn't have much of that on better days - was dulled by the shocking and rather unpleasant revelation about the whereabouts of certain demon.

"H-Hokage-sama, am I really not the demon?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "No, you are not. The demon is merely held in you. It's sealed in you with a seal, sealing is one of the ninja arts. The seal, in this case, is a jail. The fox is the prisoner and you are the jailor, standing vigilant and making sure it doesn't get away. Don't worry, the seal on you is very strong - the strongest I have ever seen. The fox won't bother you and it can't get out."

The girl nodded - noticeably more enthusiastic this time. The colour was finally returning to her skin and her facade slipped a bit, allowing a bit of excitement to be shown. She was smiling slightly, and seemed a bit anxious at the prospect of becoming a ninja, several years before other kids could.

"Well, your education will start tomorrow at 9 o'clock in the morning and will end at 6 o'clock in the evening - with breaks in between, of course. Your teachers will be the elders, most of the time. However, I'll help out from time to time. Homura will teach you common and civilian knowledge, as well as taijutsu - hand to hand combat, and shurikenjutsu - throwing weapons. Koharu will teach you about chakra, chakra control as well as some genjutsu - illusions and mind tricks, and medical skills. Boar will teach you kenjutsu - fighting with swords, ninjutsu - techniques controlling water, fire and so on, fuinjutsu - sealing and seals like the one that holds the Kyuubi in you, and about the less savory parts of our profession. Rest will be taught by either me or someone I will choose for the task. Some things, you will not be taught yet, as you are too young for them.

Well, I'm glad you coped with the revelation fast enough. And I'm even happier, because you chose to walk the same path as your parents. I'm sure you'll make them, us and the whole Leaf proud. Now go, and don't forget to get back to orphanage on time."

After the girl left, Hokage's smile disappeared. "Well?"

Danzo was the first to speak. "Before you start panicking and worrying about her apathy, it's natural for her. She rarely interacts with other children because of her heightened senses - especially hearing. You know how noisy kids are. It can be annoying for us, but imagine how you'd feel if you had several times stronger senses. That means she doesn't have friends - no, Hiruzen we both know this is true, so don't interrupt me - so she doesn't really fear anyone precious to her would start despising her. And she trusts you unconditionally, your mere words alleviated her fears easily and because you trust us, she trusts us too and thus doesn't fear bad reaction from us. You really worry too much, her psych. ev. was good, yes, a bit close to the line in few things, but otherwise, she's alright. Plus, despite her facade, she's still a child. She is malleable and we can take care of those things..."

Hiruzen sighed, knowing full well Danzo was right. Still, he had hoped she would have better, "normal", childhood. Alas, that was not to be. "Very well, she is four now. We will train her for two years. Then she will take the mask. Root will give her everything she will need to become exceptional. No point in wasting her potential. Most of her lessons will be with Homura, every day until noon. Afternoons and evenings will be in this order - Monday, Koharu - Tuesday, Danzo - Wednesday, I or other - Thursday, Koharu - Friday, Danzo - Saturday, I or other - Sundays will be free aside from the last one of each month. We will be judging her progress on those. Anybody has anything they want to add?"

Nobody said anything, so Hiruzen moved to next part. "Any suggestion on the lesson plan?"

Homura was first to respond. "Well, we know she's quite intelligent. I don't think she needs any of the civ. stuff, not yet. I'd focus on ninja related things first. Academy curriculum is pretty much useless here. I would like to focus on chakra and unlocking it first, so you" he pointed at Danzo and Koharu "can work with her as well. First lesson, I will do a little test - I'll inform you of the results. Then I will teach her some chakra theory, not that much - just a basic knowledge so she knows what she can expect. I'll also inform her of her bloodlines, as one of them concerns this.

Hiruzen, I would appreciate if you'd work on unlocking her chakra. Also, if you manage to do it with some spare time, see if she can learn those nifty little mind trick of yours. I know you'd like her to learn them, so that's why I ask you to do it. The sooner she knows them, the better. If she doesn't manage to unlock her chakra with you, Koharu will try, and if that doesn't work it will be up to you, Danzo. If she doesn't manage even then, we'll try something else than the standard procedure.

Koharu, just some exercises to get her used to the feeling of it and a bit of using it, Danzo - same for you. And I mean it, even if she proves to be exceptionally talented, we can't afford to do anything rash. Both for her safety and ours. Hiruzen, your second lesson of this week, the same as well."

Sarutobi chuckled. "Well, old friend, I asked for suggestion, but you have, yet again, shown us why you are the best choice for the position of academy director. I agree with everything you said, though you have to understand I can't really teach her all mindscape techniques. She's not ready to face 'it' and won't be for more than few years. And you are right, we can't be rash and can't really afford to make mistakes. There is no need to rush things. She needs solid foundation of basics. We also need to test the extent of her talent and her limits. This month will be more about getting to know what goes and what does not, than it will be about teaching her anything. We'll talk about what we found out on Saturday after the evening lesson, we will also prepare for the next week then. If there is nothing else, you can go."

The elders had nothing else to add, so they left. Sarutobi spent few more minutes in his office, wondering if he had made the right choice. In the end, he decided, that he dis. The future would judge him, and either prove him right or wrong.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 0900hrs, Wednesday, 4/7 3034 EE, Kage Apartment, Hokage Tower - Uzumaki Akiko, Orphan, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

Well, the apartment was certainly very different from the office. Where the office was simple, utilitarian and some would even say minimalistic, the apartment was tastefully decorated and designed to copy the inside of traditional houses. It had 6 rooms, dining room, living room, master bedroom, guest bedroom, small study and bathroom. The walls really looked to be made from paper and wood, even though they were made of reinforced concrete. There were several paintings throughout the apartment, which were supposedly old, rare and quite expensive. The furniture was scarce, there were no such things as chairs, and so on. There was no kitchen though, apparently the Hokage wasn't supposed to cook for himself.

She sighed, there was no time for thinking about silly things such as that ugly picture of lion that was worthy as much as your average castle. Her education was about to begin. Mitokado-san, no, Mitokado-sensei was already here, sitting in the living room. Several books and scrolls were set on the table in front of him. She greeted him and he greeted her back before gesturing for her to sit on the opposite side of the table.

After she did so, he spoke up. "You were given your schedule, right?" She nodded and he smiled at her. "You know, you did a number on that ANBU yesterday. I read the report he submitted. But that's not why we are here. Before we start, I'll test you a bit. Take a look at these books and scrolls and tell me if you read any of them."

Akiko soon found out, that indeed, she had read all of them. They were fairy tales, myths and legends about shinobi, samurai and the like. The struggle of good and evil. She loved them and liked to read them, even though she knew they most likely weren't real. Still, a small part of her hoped they were.

"I have read all of them, sensei. Why?" Really, why would it matter she read these books? Maybe he would tell her they weren't reality, but she pretty much realized it herself.

"What is the most common and yet the biggest mistake the heroes of those books did?"

Now this surprised her. But she knew the answer, she figured it out some time ago. The thing that caused so many problems and so much hurt...

"Trust. They trusted people too easily. And it always cost them."

Now it was Homura's time to be surprised. She was right. He picked these books because they contained exactly this, betrayal. Of course, there were several right answers - lack of focus, laziness , so on. But blind trust was the one that was present in all of them and in their line of work, it was one of the biggest flaws someone could have. For her to figure it out so fast... Or perhaps she had figured it on her own sooner? If so, even with this mind-set - discounting all other talents and traits she had, she would make a fine ninja, not one of the best, but good enough to survive the lifestyle for some time.

"Yes, correct. That was the biggest flaw the heroes of those books had. I picked them exactly because of that - being too trusting as a ninja leads to only one thing - death. Did you figure it out before I asked?" a nod in response, good - very good "Then may I ask you why you trust the Hokage so much that because of his approval, you trust us - the elders?"

"I don't. I mean, I don't trust you and the other elders. I trust Hokage-sama, and his decisions. But you personally, no. Maybe in time. Why I trust him? Because he cares enough to have people watch over me, and he trusts me enough to allow me freedom - even though he could have just locked me up. I know about the ninja tailing me. You know I have heightened senses, they either didn't or they underestimated me. I notice them from time to time. At first, I thought they were supposed to make sure I didn't run away - but they never tried to catch me when I left the orphanage. And later, I overheard one complaining to himself about how this was the most boring guard duty, ever."

Homura nodded to himself with satisfaction. He wasn't upset by the honest mistrust - really, the best mind-set. At least when it came to trusting people. Now, it was time to start teaching.

"Very well, let's begin your education then. We'll start with chakra theory. Now, I think it would be best for you to make your own notes - writing notes from lecture is really good way to learn, you'll both hear and see the information" he handed her blank scroll and a pencil "making it easier for you to understand. Also, it will teach you how to handle information - what is essential, what is less important and what can be completely disregarded as useless. Now to the lecture:

Human chakra is an energy created by human bodies. It is combination of two sides of human existence - the physical, yang, and the spiritual, yin. These two combine to create what is an energy representing the essence of our life. Don't confuse it with vitality and life force - those are physical only. The essence of our life has to contain all of our being and that means our mind and soul as well - that is chakra.

Chakra is present in all humans, no matter how small the amount might be. Not all people can use it, however. Only certain amount of people poses the physical traits to be able to generate amount big enough for significant use. Not even all ninja can create enough. And even having enough does not mean a person will be able to use it. There are people who have enough chakra, but are unable to manipulate it, for various reasons.

To be able to use it, one has to awaken it first. This can be done several ways. The most used is meditation and finding the chakra within one's body. However, there are many ways. Some have awakened chakra in emotionally or physically taxing situations, others were born with already awakened chakra, there also are seals, that can awaken chakra.

Manipulating and using it, however, can be very hard. One who has awakened chakra can manipulate it right away, but chakra is very temperamental and very powerful. To be able to control it, people have to train with it. Gaining basic control is easy, but perfect control is something only select few can achieve. Chakra is easy to pick up and wield, but not everyone can become its master completely.

People have different chakra control when they gain access to it. The ones with less chakra have better control - they don't waste as much, but they'll run out faster. The ones with higher amount of chakra are the exact opposite - they waste more of it on the same task, but they can keep it up longer. The amount one can create and hold is limited and this limit is hard to increase. Thus people born with higher reserves have advantage in this field, because control is easier to increase. However, people with high chakra reserves rarely bother to gain great chakra control.

The chakra is created and stored in chakra coils, tiny parts of human body. These can be stretched by training, just like muscles, but it's really hard and long process. However, as chakra is the mix of spiritual and physical sides of our being, its potency - power, and amount are also determined by thing like intelligence, experience, physical strength and the age of the body. The regeneration rate can then be momentarily affected by things like emotions and adrenaline rush.

Using almost all or all of person's reserves of chakra leads from severe fatigue to death. The recovery of chakra is also stunted as the exhausted chakra coils need time to recover themselves and repair damage from the strain before they can produce chakra at full rate.

Now for the potency of chakra. The potency depends mostly on genetic attributes and while it can change by gaining physical and spiritual prowess, the changes are small. Most people have chakra of very similar potency that is light blue in colour and that has no other special properties. This is the average, standard chakra. However, there are individuals or even groups of people who have different potency and also colour, some even have special properties such as having healing effect even when not converted into medical chakra.

And that is pretty much all for basics. Now please hand me the scroll, I want to see the notes you took."

Akiko did so, bit anxious about what he would say. She really did her best to make good notes. She didn't write whole sentences, just what she thought was important. Homura was surprised again, the notes were very well organized. On the level of your average fourth year academy student even. No essential information was missing, all of the less important but still very good to know information was there as well. There was nothing useless in the notes as well, the only mistake being the emphasis put on few of the less important facts - like the healing effect, which pushed them up into essential information while those things weren't.

"Very good for a first time. There are a few things that aren't exactly as they should be, but still very good." he marked the parts which were wrong and handed the scroll to her again. "You put too much emphasis on information, that isn't really all that important when it comes to this lesson. This lecture was about basic knowledge of chakra. Let's make an example - you highlighted the fact, that someone might have chakra that can heal people. But that's just an additional information. The thing you should focus on is that some people have chakra different, that's the basics. The healing effect would be important if you were learning specifically about the traits different types of chakra can have or about bloodlines. Now correct your mistakes and then give me the scroll, so I can check again."

It didn't take her too long, there weren't that many flaws in the notes. She had it done in no time. Homura checked it and all of the mistakes were indeed corrected. He returned her the scroll and also gave her the standard "textbook" one on chakra basics.

"Hmm, we have more time than I expected we would have. That's good actually. I'll test you a little bit to see how much you remember and if you understand correctly. First question: What is most important thing when it comes to chakra potency?"

Easy cheesy. "Genetics... Whatever that is."

Homura was taken aback a bit before chuckling. "Sorry, my mistake. I haven't taught in quite a while and my pupils were all older than you and knew all of this. You know about bloodlines, right? How only certain people belonging to clans have them." A nod. "Well, that's genetics. It's the information stored in our bodies. The information deals with the way our body will look and work - this can be affected by us, but the basic things like hair colour, eye colour, gender - these are all determined by genetics. Genetic information is created when the genetics of parents combine when they conceive a child. Any other words you don't understand?"

Akiko sighed. "Conceive - a child. There were few more new words in your lecture I didn't know before, but you used some I know that must have the same meaning, because you used them in sentences saying pretty much the same thing."

"Ah, conceive a child - make is the easiest way to explain it right now. And different words with the same meaning are synonyms. Now, question two..."

The testing continued for some time. In the end, she found out she remembered pretty much everything. The problem was she didn't understand everything correctly. Chakra was related to many subjects and interacted with even more. The problem was caused by her overall lack of education. She had no clue about things academy students learned way before they learned about chakra. However, she needed to know and understand at least some of it so her other teachers would have something to work with - at least, that was what Mitokado-sensei told her. Of course, he also explained everything she didn't get right - or as much as he could without confusing her even further.

"Ah well, now that we have this out of the way, there is something else I wanted to talk about - bloodlines, your bloodlines to be exact. And yes, you have bloodline - well several bloodlines. Believe it or not, but you have the Uzumaki surname for a reason - you are one. Now, I know you'd like to learn more about them, but our time is precious and there is way less of it than I would like to be. Besides, Hokage-sama knows more than I about them. Maybe if you perform well enough during his lesson, he will tell you something.

Now, your bloodlines - the Uzumaki bloodlines. There are three. The first one is 'Superior Body Bloodline' - not very original and imaginative name, but it describes it perfectly. It's a combined bloodline, it affects both body and chakra. This bloodline gives many benefits while having only, albeit big, downside.

The upsides: Increased vitality and life force, endurance, physical strength, stamina, special chakra, special chakra system, no chakra leaks, full chakra control, increased regeneration rate and immunity system. The downside is the immunity system, I'll explain in a bit.

First things first, vitality and life force. All Uzumaki have so much of them their average life length was around 200 years including those who didn't die of old age - average lifespan of the Uzumaki was some 400 years. It's safe to say you'll live long enough.

The endurance, coupled with the regeneration rate, are legendary. Uzumaki body isn't indestructible, but it's way more resilient than normal one. The denser and tougher muscles are harder to pierce or slash, but bones are extremely dense and almost impossible to damage, much less break. And even when the body of an Uzumaki is damaged, it's no big deal. The regeneration rate is so fast that nothing short of killing blow is going to stop an Uzumaki from standing up again. There were recorded cases where Uzumaki received small blows to heart, brain or had the primary arteries damaged - enough to kill a normal person, but the Uzumaki were fine in few minutes. So, yes - as long as you don't get blow up or you lose your head, you should be fine. Also, the pain receptors are far less receptive than normal ones. You will feel pain, but not as much. Because of this, brain overload from pain does not happen. I have never heard nor seen an Uzumaki faint or die because of pain. And believe me when I say I have seen them damaged to a point where most of their bodies looked like they went through meat grinders. Also, the regeneration ability can easily cope with abusing enhancers and restoratives such as chakra replenishing pills or various chemicals, even 'hard' drugs such as heroin. In concert with the immune system, they purge the side-effects and only leave the good ones. Downside of this for adults might be the inability to get drunk...

Oh, the denser muscles - the muscles of Uzumaki are much denser, more powerful while also being able to work much longer. Strength of an Uzumaki muscle is three times as much as those of normal humans, while they can work for ten times longer without getting exhausted and damaged. This makes them training somewhat harder, seemingly - but you can always just get heavier weights or exercise harder to make up for it. Also, because of the way Uzumaki muscles are built, along with the regeneration ability and the endurance, Uzumaki children can use weights unlike other children without damaging themselves and messing up the growth of the body.

Stamina and metabolism if the Uzumaki is nothing to scoff at either. Uzumaki can turn pretty much anything edible into energy, so they never had problems with diet. Also, their body is able to store way more energy, so it isn't easy to become fat with this bloodline. Uzumaki have no problem with fighting for several days if they ate enough to fill their energy reserves before the battle.

Immunity system is a double edged sword. On one side, it's extremely effective. Uzumaki don't suffer from any illness, nor can they be drugged or poisoned. It targets everything that enters the body and if something doesn't pass the 'test', it's simply purged - or if it contains good parts, the unneeded ones are left, the effect takes place and then the unwanted effects are erased in cooperation with the regenerative ability. The downside is that gravidity of women - becoming pregnant and having a children - is for some reason seen as bad as deadly poison. It's extremely hard for Uzumaki women to become pregnant, for some reason the immunity system lets them become pregnant only from time to time. The Uzumaki were never really bothered by this. They said their bodies rejected weaklings and only let the strong survive. The problem is that it left their numbers low.

Now that we have the physical parts out of the way, let's talk about chakra. You know about standard chakra already, but yours isn't like that. For starters, its colour is gold. Second, it's twice as dense as normal one while also being twice as potent, making it four times as good as normal chakra. This means, that you only need quarter of the amount of chakra for something - when compared to someone with regular chakra. Also, regular chakra is somewhat wild and hard to control. The Uzumaki chakra is entirely calm and absolutely obedient. All Uzumaki are born with perfect chakra control.

Now to the chakra system. First, chakra coils of Uzumaki are way faster at regenerating chakra. They are also bigger and thus can store more chakra, while also being easier to stretch allowing for faster growth of chakra reserves. The Uzumaki also have no chakra pathways - paths in one's body used to distribute chakra around. Instead, the chakra is present in the whole body equally. There are also no tenketsu points through which the chakra is released. Instead, whole body of Uzumaki is chakra conductive and chakra can be released wherever needed.

Well, that is all for 'Superior Body'. There are two more and both are chakra based. First is 'Chain Release' and second is 'Chakra Sealing Method' - again, very original names.

Chain Release, is mixed element ninjutsu release - the only of its kind. It uses chains created from extremely condensated chakra that can be either the basic chakra or elemental chakra. There aren't many techniques for this type of ninjutsu, because it only started emerging within the last generation of Uzumaki.

Chakra Sealing Method is the most revered bloodline of the Uzumaki, who were known to be the masters of the art of seal-crafting and sealing. Even without the previous two bloodlines, this one would be enough to make them just as feared as they were. Fuinjutsu is very dangerous, but powerful type of jutsu. Mastering it takes decades, whole lifetime - for a normal person. Not for Uzumaki. This bloodline allows to create seal in one's mind and then imprint it with chakra alone. It allows to study seals within one's mind with just mere touch. All of this in just few moments. Other people have to spend sometimes even weeks crafting a seal, painting it with ink or blood or whatever else. The smallest of mistakes while writing can lead to disaster - doesn't happen to an Uzumaki. As long as there is no flaw in the design, there is no chance for flaw in the final creation. Studying seals themselves is dangerous and lengthy process as well. It takes even more time to reverse engineer seals and it's even more dangerous. Not for an Uzumaki - just touch it or connect to it in any way and have fun. The seal will even stay there, no damage done.

Well, now you see you really have the means to become one of the best, if not the best. It's just up to you if you grasp your chance firmly and give it all you have, or not - the choice is yours. Any questions?"

"Yes, what..." after 20th question, Homura stopped counting and hoped she would stop soon. He didn't mind teaching her, but their time was limited and he really didn't want to upset her by not answering - on the first day, no less.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1415hrs, Wednesday, 4/7 3034 EE, Training Ground N9, Outdoor Jonin Training Grounds - Uzumaki Akiko, Orphan, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

Letting go of jiji's hand, she looked around the training ground. It was supposed to be a smaller and secluded one. The size was enough for them and it allowed for some privacy. It was just a simple clearing in woods on the outskirts of the village.

"Now, Akko-chan, I'd like you to sit down into the meditation position - you know that one right?"

Akiko turned and sat down, already guessing what would he want. With the lesson on chakra and all that, it was pretty easy.

"Should I try to find and awake my chakra?" Her voice a touch enthusiastic. She tried to hide her excitement and she did so well enough, but Hiruzen noticed it anyway. She wasn't good enough to fool him. Yet. He gave her an encouraging smile and took out his pipe when she closed her eyes. She acted so mature, yet she was still clearly a child - and really excited one at that. She didn't even wait for instructions. A way to fail, in front of Hokage himself. At least she would get a lesson in patience and he a little break. Better to make a mistake on training field, than on battlefield. He took out his matches and lit the pipe.

Unfortunately for him, his break was cut short when Akiko released a short, but powerful burst of golden chakra. Trust Akiko to be surprising.

"Well, good enough?" she asked with a grin - a grin, something she never did before. She had to be even more excited than Hiruzen thought.

"Of course, Akko-chan. Congratulations. But you should've waited for instructions first."

"Uh, but Mitokado sensei already explained that to me. He told me how the chakra is basically the representation of our life - our very being. He also told me it could be reached through meditation, amongst other things. So when you told me to meditate and try and find it, I just did. I calmed down and then focused on myself as a whole. I felt it soon enough and when I 'touched' it, it felt really warm and pleasurable. So I kind of 'walked' into it. And then it just started flooding everything, so I focused on it and... ordered? Ordered it to stop. And it did, and my meditation ended. So I guess it worked." She finished with a nervous, but happy laugh.

Yup, an excited child. Very intelligent - frighteningly intelligent - one. Uchiha Itachi? Hatake Kakashi? Namikaze Minato? Prodigies - them? Compared to her, subpar academy dropouts. If she kept up this pace, she would be the most powerful shinobi of modern times. She was better than him at this age. Sarutobi chuckled. All of the problems that bothered him seemed pointless now. Given ten years, she would be so frighteningly powerful she will make up one whole ANBU division by herself. When she would reach her prime in few hundred years, way after he was dead, she would be a divine being. She had the potential to become a hero of myths and legends. And he would make sure she would squeeze all of it, even the last drop of talent.

Well, what now? She seemed talented at meditation, he would train her in that, but she would be done in a hour. He couldn't really teach her more at this time, despite her talent, she wasn't ready to face her tenant yet. Well, perhaps she would have some more questions about her clan.

And indeed, the meditation training was rather short. She was a natural at it. Slipping in and out was really easy for her, and soon she was able to keep awareness of the outside world.

Sarutobi sighed. "Well, that's all of training for now. So, you have any more questions about your clan?"

Akiko's expression turned from a happy one to the more commonly seen guarded indifference. "Actually, yes. Who are, or were my parents? Are they still alive? If yes, where they are?"

Well, shit. Hiruzen took a deep, calming breath. He considered not telling her, but then again - he would have to sooner or later. He knew she wouldn't tell anyone, she would have another people to look up to - no harm in that. He gestured for her to come close while releasing a pulse of chakra to find out if anyone was around. Fortunately, nobody was.

"Your parents are dead. You have most likely heard about both of them. Your father for sure, your mother - very likely. Their names are... Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina. Yes, the Fourth Hokage is your father and the Princess of Whirlpools is your mother."

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Hiruzen didn't dare move. Fortunately, she didn't show any signs of discomfort, so she was most likely just processing the information.

"Did you really mean it when you said I could surpass them both?" The question was serious.

"Yes. You are the best of both combined." The answer was as well.

"Thank you... I'll... do my best. Can I go now... I just want to think... Alone. And you said you didn't have anything else to teach me today. So... Yeah, can I?"

Hiruzen sighed. "Of course. I understand. I'm sure you realized you shouldn't tell anyone, so please don't - just like with the fox and training... And, Akko-chan, I'm sure they'd proud of you already."

A small sad smile graced her lips. "Thank you, jiji..."

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1047hrs, Sunday, 8/7 3034 EE, Kage Office, Hokage Tower - Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage, Sarutobi Clan Head

This week, or most of it, were really interesting and he couldn't really make sense of it. Akiko was talented beyond their wildest dreams - expectations were thrown out of window long before her training for this week ended yesterday. She was frighteningly intelligent, focusing on task was easy for her - Something like that wasn't present in children. It had an explanation though. Akiko was immersed in books most of the time. Reading so much made her focus for long periods of time and this was what came out of it - not the worst outcome.

On the other hand, her maturity and asshole-ish attitude were just an act to keep 'annoying' people away. She was still pretty much a child. She was quite naive and ignorant of the way this world worked, though Hiruzen was sure she would easily get rid of this. She already taught herself to not trust easily.

They wanted to meet yesterday, but didn't - all of them needed some more time to think. Well, that time was over now.

First to speak was Danzo. "Say what you want about Uzumaki and their cruelty when it came to procreation, the survival of the fittest attitude has exceptional results when it comes to quality of the offspring."

Homura scoffed. "It still doesn't make it right. They had the means to get around this-"

"Gentlemen," Koharu interrupted them sharply "you seem to have forgotten why we meet today. Leave your discussions about morality of some decisions for later..."

That made them stop. The room was quiet for a while before Homura tried again. "She is way better student than anyone I ever had. Her thirst for knowledge coupled with her intelligence make her the dream of every teacher. She is extremely talented. She has the right mind-set, despite the bit of childish naiveté left. I estimate these two years will be enough to cover the whole academy curriculum with a bit of space left for additional things. Two months and we'll be finished with everything chakra related. From then on, you have your hands free to teach her anything you want. I'll work on her physical prowess then. After that, Civilian studies and after those, the rest of ninja studies. I'd however like to leave the ninjutsu, fuinjutsu and the theory about the other areas you will be teaching to you Danzo and the medical and genjutsu theory to you Koharu. You're better suited to explain that. Hiruzen, I have no clue what you want to teach her, but I guess you'll work on unlocking her bloodlines and then you'll train her in the use of the chakra chains. Please, wait with it until I have finished with the chakra theory."

Hiruzen and the rest of the elders agreed wholeheartedly. Homura summed up their impressions well, and his teaching plan was good enough, better than the rest of them could make on their own.

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**So, this is all. For now, anyway. Thanks for reading and please leave a review - let me know your opinion.**

**Oh, and I devote this chapter to my maths professor, who is away for two weeks and the only reason substitution schedule gave us is a single letter D. Those of you just as immature and dirty-minded as I are now laughing hysterically, giggling like a Japanese schoolgirl or expressing your mirth in any other way you see fit. **

**Goodbye, for now. I'll be back soon enough... Kehehehehehe...**


	2. Development

**AN: Hey guys and gals. Glad to see you once more. This chapter was originally scheduled for release a week ago, but I was too busy with certain 'job' that required a lot of writing and I just needed a break after I was done with it, so here is the finished second chapter. I hope you'll enjoy and please leave a review. **

**Even flames, the review counter goes up anyway and there is no such thing as bad publicity, there is only publicity :P**

**Disclaimer: The world of Naruto and its characters belong to the copyright owners of said franchise. This story is written merely for my amusement and for free entertainment of others. I, in no way, shape or form, attempt to make money off of it, nor I ever will.**

Winds of Change

Chapter II

Development

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1400hrs, Monday, 9/7 3034 EE, Rooftop Garden, Hokage Tower - Uzumaki Akiko, Orphan, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

So far, the training was quite exciting and entertaining, albeit a bit lacking in her opinion. Still, those were just first lessons - she knew they were more about testing her than anything else. Her teachers needed to know how fast she learned to change the curriculum to suit her needs. That period was over though, now was time to start with the real stuff.

Today's lesson was with Utatane-sensei, perhaps the only one who demanded more formal and professional approach - despite her being the one who calmed her when she was distraught in Jiji's office last week. Nobody else demanded this from her, all citing she was too young to bother with things like that. She wasn't even taught formal procedures yet, after all. Still, Utatane-sensei demanded this, so she had to obey. She was taught the extent needed for their teacher-student relationship and had to use this knowledge.

She didn't dislike Utatane-sensei for that though. She understood different people had different views. And she was the one who was trained, so she had to do what teacher asked. But Koharu was not an enigma - she just acted like proper sensei of more experienced students. She was not one yet, but she would do her best to become one as soon as possible. Perhaps this was Utatane sensei's way of motivating her - to make this a proper teacher-student relationship, not just a mock up.

Jiji wasn't enigma either - old man who loved his village. His grandfatherly visage and mannerism were not fake, he really loved his people - if they behaved. However, he also had his serious side - The God of Shinobi. He could and did swap between these personalities in such a way it made people wonder if he was bipolar or had schizophrenia. But it was just a necessity for a village leader - motivate your people with kindness, but if they don't listen, be ruthless to make sure they will listen to the kind words next time.

Mitokado-sensei was a nice good. He seemed like a quiet type, but he could actually ramble on all day without break. He was quite good teacher, he knew how to explain things and how to make his teachings interesting - at least after he got grasp on the pupil's limitations and personality. He was also quite nice, though not in the same way as Jiji. It was more like having a friend. A really old, wise friend, who taught her things not known to others of her age - that sounded a bit creepy...

The enigma was ANBU-sensei. He tried to act in formal and professional way, but some of her small outbursts of excitement and happiness moved the man or woman every time. The praise was less formal than the one offered by Utatane-sensei, although the ANBU tried to act the same way - it didn't work out entirely though. It was quite strange, really. Despite only having one lesson with him, she was actually looking forward to other lessons with him - not because of the focus of the lessons, but because of the enigmatic ANBU. The Commander was strict, but he showed how proud he was of her accomplishments... It was almost like... like having a father... Wishful thinking, but if she could pretend in her mind, at least for few hours a week, it would really make her happy. Family was one of the things she wanted the most...

No time for brooding, though. Utatane-sensei just entered the garden on the roof of the Hokage Tower. The garden itself wasn't all that special. Just a few trees and flowers - nothing really exotic. Utatane-sensei herself has changed her attire, though. She had a black kimono with silver sash holding it in place. Her footwear hadn't changed at all. They exchanged a formal meeting before the lesson started. The first part was dedicated to going over the things she learned about chakra. The second was lecture on theory of chakra control. Akiko used a small table, that was brought here, to write notes into her scroll.

"Chakra control exercises are exercises meant to increase the ability to manipulate one's chakra and the efficiency of this endeavour. There are two types of chakra control exercises, or rather, two ways to use chakra exercises. One is precision focused, the other is output focused.

The first one, obviously, deals with precision and efficiency with small amount of chakra - the exercises are about using less and less chakra to complete the same task. They are made to force one to use smaller amounts of chakra to make the one doing them try doing them more efficiently - using smaller amounts of chakra to achieve the same results by using the available chakra wisely. This doesn't really matter to you, the exercises will only help you gain experience with using chakra and moulding it.

The second deals with output, the amount of raw power one can unleash and control at the same time. This way of exercising forces one to stretch the amount of power they can push out at the same time, while also forcing the one doing it to impose their will on the chakra with more power in order to control its higher amounts. These exercises are quite more dangerous than the previous one - overexerting one's chakra pathways or losing control over big amounts of chakra and ending with serious injuries are normal occurrence when someone attempts to do it. These exercises matter more to you, as they are the way to stretch chakra coils and gain bigger reserves.

Every training exercise can be used both ways, but some are better for precision training, while others for output training. We will go through all of them to get you used to the different ways chakra can be moulded and used.

You have done some simple exercises to get used to your chakra, but that was just playing around. Today, you'll begin doing standard exercises. First few, the ones you'll be doing in a few moments, are beginner exercises of Leaf. They are taught at the Academy, in third year. They are named Leaf Control Exercises and there are quite few - 4 categories with several exercises.

We'll be working with the ones in first category, trying out both precision and output variants. First will be LCE-A1, which is pretty simple - you'll just hold a leaf to your forehead with as little chakra as possible."

This one was easy enough, she had it down in around fifteen minutes. Though it was again proven, that having ultimate chakra control in theory wasn't the same in practice - her chakra obeyed her every order, but she didn't know the right orders yet. And thus, the leaf flew off a few times. She soon figured out the right amount, though. And then she cut from it more and more while trying to hold the little leaf in place - she soon reached the point where the amount of chakra was just too small - for other, reaching this milestone would mean trying it again and training in efficiency of using chakra, but with her predispositions, she knew this was the end limit and simply focused on mastering the exercise. Soon, she didn't even need to think about holding the leaf up while doing something else. She even easily managed to toy with the rest of her chakra while doing this, signifying that she indeed mastered this exercise.

She continued with adding leafs to different parts of her body, managing to use just the right amount of chakra after fourth leaf. It took around a hour to fully exploit the potential of this exercise, ending at 200 leafs which covered considerable amount of her small body.

The output variation, however, proved to be quite a bit more troublesome. The first time she tried it, the leaf literally exploded in a flash of golden flame, which earned her scolding for brashness and a small burn on her forehead. On her next try, she was a bit more successful with the leaf just flying off of her forehead. Deciding to try a different tactic, she stuck the leaf to her forehead with the minimal required amount and then slowly added chakra. Apparently, this was the way to go as the leaf didn't fly off, nor did it explode. Soon enough, she was notified by her sensei, that the leaf had started glowing a bright golden colour - apparently a sign the material was reaching the chakra saturation limit, the leaf was getting full.

Focusing on the leaf, she managed to cut the chakra just at the maximal amount. She followed the same pattern as before - first she learned to hold the leaf on her forehead while keeping the amount of chakra on the maximum. After reaching the mastery level, she added leafs. This time, it took 10 leafs until she managed to get the correct amount of chakra right away. The mastering also took some time and before she knew it, the time was up and the lesson was ending. It might have seemed a bit dull for the outside onlooker, but it was different for the one doing the exercises. And with the little explosion, it was also a bit amusing.

Utatane-sensei once again reminded her not to rush things and be patient and to control her excitement. After that, they said their goodbyes and Akiko left for the orphanage.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1400hrs, Tuesday, 10/7 3034 EE, Rooftop Garden, Hokage Tower - Uzumaki Akiko, Orphan, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

She really looked forward to this lesson. Ninjutsu and fuinjutsu seemed really interesting and she couldn't help but be excited. Ninjutsu was really cool, nobody could deny that. And fuinjutsu, fuinjutsu was interesting as well. It wasn't seen much and it was quite subtle as far as she could tell, but it had to be really powerful if it could hold back something as volatile and strong as bijuu. Even the strongest of them bowed down to some chakra infused link. Of course, she knew it was a bit more complicated than that, but in essence - it really was just some ink and chakra.

However, that was not to be. ANBU-sensei had completely different plan. "I know you are excited about learning ninjutsu and fuinjutsu, but there are more important things to know as a ninja. In my opinion, you should know them and understand them way before you even start training in ninjutsu.

Now, I'm pretty sure you know what morals are and you also have some - such as don't kill, don't steal and so on." A nod in response." Throw them away."

Now the girl was confused, looking at him questioningly. Danzo didn't wait for the question.

"As a ninja, your morals are dictated by what is needed by the village. If village tells you to steal, stealing is okay and you'll do it. If village needs you to betray, betrayal is okay. If village tells you to lie, lying is okay. If village tells you to harm, harming others is okay. If village tells you to kill - to take life, to end someone... You will do it, without complaining. You will kill, be it someone who wants to kill you or an innocent little child like the ones in orphanage.

This is how ninja world looks like, this is it's true face. Espionage, sabotage, subterfuge, assassination. And make no mistake, your opponents will not hesitate to kill you. You'll meet all kinds of people out there, psychopaths, fanatics - people who will make you suffer for a long time. And then, they will murder you - kill you like an animal in slaughterhouse."

By now, she was quite ready to puke and cry, her skin quite pale and her eyes moist. This was quite a loud 'Wake Up!' for her. She always prided herself for not being naive, unlike other children. Now it seemed like she was wrong all along. There was a question that bothered her, though she wasn't sure if asking the ANBU was a good idea. She feared the answer. In the end, she decided to ask. Better to know now, than to find out later when the circumstances would be worse.

"Why... are you ninja then... I mean, doesn't it bother you... to harm and k-kill people?"

"No. It does not." The girl paled even more. "I do it for the village, for the people of the village. I am ruthless and cruel so others don't have to be. I kill and steal so others don't have to. I allow other people to lead normal life without blood on their hands. Seeing them safe and sound, their happiness, their hope - it makes me happy. Because I know I made difference. I know that by sacrificing my own 'normality', I made sure several others didn't have to..."

The girl breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't really that bad. To tell the truth, he sounded like some hero - a real one. Sacrificing everything for the sake of his people, for his village... That was really admirable. She couldn't help herself, but respect the ANBU even more. But she was sure of something - her naivety gone.

"Others aren't like you." She didn't ask this time, merely stated it - quite sure it was the truth.

The ANBU nodded. "Correct, while there are many like me, doing this for similar reasons and being loyal to their village, many others do it for less admirable reasons. I didn't lie when I said there were many psychopaths out there. Some are ninja because they like killing, some like to torture people, some love the screams of those unfortunate enough to get in their way. Then there are those who do it from greed. They want money, power - they want to be rich, to rule others. There are many kinds of people - some of them are pleasant, some less so."

The girl nodded in understanding, silently vowing to not be so naive anymore. She was sure being naive was quite the short road to death. She couldn't afford to die, she wanted to prove herself. She wanted to surpass her parents, she wanted to show she was strong enough to carry her burdens - that her father hadn't made mistake when he sealed Kyuubi in her. Besides, this made ninja, well - some of them, even cooler. Doing what they did for the right reasons - sacrificing their chance at normal life, so other people didn't have to. She wanted to be like that!

Her azure eyes shone with determination - yes, the ninja world wasn't pretty, but it was her world. And she would survive it - no, she would thrive in it, she would rule it, command it, and it would obey her every whim, every wish would be fulfilled. She had the means, it was time to use them. It was time to start getting rid of the obstacles. She couldn't and wouldn't rush it, but she needed to move on.

"How did your first kill happen?" The question seemed wrong, but she squashed the feeling of guilt and dread. She needed to be prepared, because now she knew she would have to end someone's life. Not yet, but eventually the time would come.

The ANBU was quiet for a few moments before responding. "I am actually glad you asked, it seems like you understand you will have to do it. I will tell you about both my first kill and first assassination - and yes, they are quite different.

My first kill was on my first mission outside of the village. At that time, the village was still ruled by the first Hokage, Senju Hashirama. It was to be a simple Low C-Ranked mission - just delivering a scroll to iron ore mine, just a request for more ore. We were close to the start of another war, you see. Turned out it wasn't as innocent and simple mission. The scroll actually contained orders for several spies while the mine was their HQ at that time.

The higher-ups were trying a new tactic to confuse our enemies, but as you can probably already guess, it didn't worked out quite differently. The plan was to send genin teams with seemingly normal tasks which would actually be anything but. Who would think simple green fresh out of academy genin would be doing such an important mission as delivering orders to spies is. We didn't know about this, not even our Jonin sensei did - as I found out much later.

It was an absolute disaster - while the tactic had some potential to be successful, the problem was they sent us with a scroll ordering more resources for weapon production right before war, when sabotage of industry is at its peak. The spies never found out about what the true purpose of our mission was, but our scroll was quite important for the amount of resources our army would have in the upcoming bloody storm. That was enough to warrant a whole ANBU team to take us out.

My sensei was one of the most talented young jonin Leaf had at that time. He took out three of the ANBU team, but the fourth one got him. He then proceeded to toy with us. Perhaps he was angry his teammates were dead and wanted revenge, perhaps he just wanted some fun. He killed my teammates quite easily, but even so, I refused to give up. Our sensei oce told us, that even the worst of bandits could kill a kage if they underestimated their opponents and didn't give them full attention.

I was running around, substituting when he got too close, and pelting the ANBU with kunai and shuriken. I have also attached several timed explosive notes to some of the kunai - it didn't work. Soon I ran out of the timed explosive notes, the only thing I had was a prototype of chakra note with chakra sensor which exploded when the target got too close. I didn't know if it would work - I did the seal just few hours prior when we were resting.

It did. The ANBU didn't expect it, he underestimated me - I was just some lowly genin throwing some simple timed explosive notes at him. He went to deflect it wide, just like the previous ones, just for him to get into the sensor range and the note to explode. The note wasn't really all that strong, but it was enough.

First thing I saw when the smoke from the explosion started to clear out, was the ANBU's face. His mask must've been destroyed in the explosion, and I was looking straight into his steel grey eyes. The man was obviously in shock, his eyes only betraying only surprise and silent question - 'How?' We stared at each other for a few moments, but it seemed like hours to me.

I was shaking, quite ready to just vomit, then lie down, curl up and cry. I felt horrible, because from the expression of the man, I already knew I killed him. Meanwhile, the smoke had cleared out. It revealed the charred and torn uniform which covered as much damaged body of the man. The first thing I noticed was the missing three quarters of his left arm. The stump gushed out blood at alarming rate and even if I wanted to help, it was probably too late. The man started coughing up blood and I noticed several small holes in his chest, blood trickling out of them. The shards of the exploded kunai hit him and damaged his lungs and some of the major arteries close to heart. He was bleeding internally and into his lungs - beyond saving.

Few seconds later, he just fell on the ground with a sickening thud. I followed his lead, falling to my knees and vomiting, then just falling unconscious. I have woken up few hours later. I knew what I had to do, but I still felt extremely guilty and it was hard for me. I had enough space in my scrolls to seal all of the bodies, which was quite fortunate. I don't think I could've just burned the bodies.

I completed the mission alone without any further problems. I got promoted to chunin for being able to keep a cool head in really bad looking situation, for killing an ANBU and managing to finish the mission on my own. I also got some bounty money for the ANBU. It didn't make me feel any better. It wouldn't make my sensei and my teammates come back. Nor would it erase the thing I did from my memories.

And then, Senju Tobirama told me in essence just what I told you. And it made me feel better, because knowing that I made sure my people were safe and didn't have to go through what I did made me feel like I really made a difference, like my actions mattered.

Several months later, my first assassination mission came. Leaf needed cooperation from one of the Daimyo of the smaller countries. He refused, so we had to get rid of both him and his only son, so he wouldn't have legitimate male successor. His oldest daughter would then have to marry one of the nobles who would become the new Daimyo - the one who was most likely to be the one did agree to cooperate, so the assassination order was issued.

I was in ANBU then, joined just few weeks prior. A team was sent, three were to take care of nobody getting in the way and I was tasked with the act of murder. I had to kill an innocent child and sentence young woman to a lifelong marriage with man twenty years older than her, man who betrayed her father - all for the sake of my village.

And I did it, in the end. I murdered the man and his son in cold blood. That night, I realized my own insignificance. While my actions did have effects on things, in the grand scheme of things I was nothing, but a drop in an ocean. I realized you can't save everyone. There are bound to be deaths of those who don't really have anything with what is going on.

At times like those, you have to choose - one person or many, and here the choice is obvious. But sometimes you'll have to choose ruining or ending of life of a person in exchange for happy life of another one. And here, I chose my people over them. Call me a coward, call me a selfish bastard - but I'd do it again. I'll rather save the people I know and have bonds with than people I don't know, because killing them or knowing they'll die because of my actions hurts less than when the people I know die..."

Akiko was taken aback by this. It was quite hard to stomach. But... if she had to pick between someone she knew and liked and someone she didn't know...

"The choice is obvious on this one as well, sensei. It sounds cruel and selfish... And it is... But somehow, it feels natural. Perhaps that is what we all are - cruel, selfish bastards..."

The ANBU was silent for a while, before patting her on the head - a rare show of affection which she liked so much. "Thank you for understanding this old man..."

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1400hrs, Wednesday, 11/7 3034 EE, Rooftop Garden, Hokage Tower - Uzumaki Akiko, Orphan, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

Yesterday was quite an eye opener for her. After ANBU-sensei told her about his first two kills, they talked about his other "adventures" which only served to crush and burn down the rest of her idealistic view of the world. She also quickly understood that flashy jutsu and big fights were only small part of it. The profession was mostly about remaining unseen, unheard, unsuspected and unexpected. It really changed her perspective.

Today was time for a lesson with someone Jiji chose, because he was busy for today. It was an older man, not as old as Jiji or the elders, but still old. He had long mess of white hair on his head, his skin was fair coloured, he had grey eyes and had quite grizzled visage. From what she could see of his skin, he had quite a few scars. He was also quite big, his height was enormous when compared to most other adults, but he also had quite big body in general. His frame had to be quite muscular.

The man wore a simple red battle kimono held in place with black rope and simple black pants which had red bandages. On his feet were black standard issue army boots. Most prominent part of his clothing, however, was his headband. Instead of the standard plate with the leaf symbol, it was horned and had the kanji for 'Oil' engraved into it, which was set on a red cloth.

Akiko knew who this man was, Jiji had sent a messenger to let her know. Jiraiya of the Sannin, former student of Sarutobi Hiruzen, former sensei of Namikaze Minato. The man waved at her and smiled an unsure smile, that was most likely meant to look friendly, when she just raised her eyebrow questioningly - messing with people was so much fun. When he came closer, she greeted him formally.

"Eh, no need to be so formal with me kid... I'm not like those stiff old farts." He laughed uproariously, but quickly stopped when he noticed she didn't react the same way.

"Please do not call the elders stiff old farts."

The emotionless voice and expressionless face sent shivers down Jiraiya's spine. Just what the hell did or did not do which resulted in this. He said it when he heard it, this whole training thing in her age was a bad idea. This just went to prove his point. That bastard Danzo surely did or said something he shouldn't have. He would really have to talk with Sarutobi-sensei about this. Minato's kid wasn't supposed to be some emotionless killing machine, she was supposed to have a normal childhood - to play, to laugh...

"Ehm, sorry, but come on... It was just a joke!" The girl didn't react in any way. "Yeah, I know it was a bad joke, but it was still a joke! Geez kid, lighten up a little, will ya?"

The girl sighed a long, mournful sigh, as if she was giving up and about to do something rather unpleasant. "Very well, sensei. What is the purpose of today's lesson?"

"No lesson for you, sorry. Sarutobi-sensei asked me to talk to you about your parents, he figured I was the right one to tell you. I knew both of them well, Minato was like son to me and your mother was the spouse I wished he would have. So, got any questions, ask right away. Or I could just talk about them, if you want."

"Please, just talk."

And so Jiraiya started a lengthy tale about her father and mother. How both were talented, both graduated as top of their respective classes and fought for the title of Rookie of the Year, which was a tie in the end and her father left the title to her mother as a true gentleman. They stuck together ever since, rivalry becoming friendship and friendship love.

Her father was prodigy like no other and the right student for Jiraiya - close-mid combat specialist with knack for fuinjutsu. He took to what Jiraiya taught him like fish to water. He learned his style and then changed it slightly to suit his exact needs, perfected Senju Tobirama's space-time Nin/Fuinjutsu and created a devastating close combat technique that required no hand seals in time it took others to finally get solo B-Rank mission. At that time, he had already done 20 of them.

Her mother wasn't slacking off either, she became mistress of kenjutsu with skill so good even the samurai of Iron Country bowed before her. She actually managed to be marked S-Rank threat before her father - she apparently killed a jinchuuriki of three-tails in one blow.

According to Jiraiya, her father was almost always calm, but he was also kind, compassionate and loving. He could be ruthless, however - as was shown in the Third Shinobi War. He ruled similarly as the Third, handsome and smiling young man, but if you crossed him, the punishments were severe. He held the village in iron grip, with complete control over it. His orders were mostly completed from loyalty and admiration, but there were also some completed because of fear of his wrath.

Her mother, on the other hand, was quite emotional - seeing her calm was close to witnessing a miracle. Some were quite sure she was bi-polar as she many times went from happiness to rage and back again in short time. She was also very loving and protective, but she also held the elitist attitude of Uzumaki. When she was conceived, her mother declared all other children that were and would be born in the same year useless, because apparently someone strong enough to be born Uzumaki had more worth than hundreds of others - and she wasn't joking when she said this, she really meant it, despite the fact that second child of her best friend, Uchiha Mikoto, was to be born on that year as well.

He talked about how happy they were when they got married. He also told her about how amusing it was when they didn't talk to each other two weeks prior, because Kushina refused to be called anything else than Uzumaki and Minato refused to change his name because it would hurt his prestige. Both were rather stubborn about it and in their childish temper tantrums, they haven't considered just keeping their names intact. It was also one of the rare occasions when her father really lost his cool.

When the "lesson" time was up, Akiko thanked him and left, which made Jiraiya a bit sad because he hoped she would want to stay a bit longer. Well, he was a new person for her, perhaps she needed some time to get used to him. He needed to talk with his former sensei anyway.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1808hrs, Wednesday, 11/7 3034 EE, Kage Office, Hokage Tower - Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage, Sarutobi Clan Head

Sarutobi lit his pipe, knowing Jiraiya was on his way. Unbeknownst to his former student, Akiko didn't leave to go back to orphanage, but was currently hidden in one of the ANBU guard posts with a disabled sound-block barrier so she could listen to the conversation.

The door opened as angry Jiraiya walked inside. "Why?"

Sarutobi sighed. "Because I decided so. She has talent and is intelligent. We need ninja like her."

"But she's still a little child, you old fool." Jiraiya seethed. "I've seen how she acts, already shutting off her emotions. The whole time, her face was expressionless and her eyes betrayed her emotions only a little. If you really want her to train, then at least do it alone and don't let Danzo near her! He is already turning her into a mindless killing zombie, a weapon, a tool."

Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe before responding in calm voice. "If I am old fool, then you are younger blind fool. Which one is worse, I wonder... You couldn't even see through her mask. And before you continue with your childish tantrum, she was like this way before we started training her. She was always more mature than children of her age. Her personality reminds me of her grandfather. He also didn't show his emotions easily, especially when around people he didn't know or didn't trust."

"That doesn't matter. She's still a kid. She's not ready. She should be playing 'Ninja', not training to be one!" Jiraiya roared. He was having none of this. That kid deserved normal, happy childhood - especially with what she held.

"Who are you to decide what I should and shouldn't do?" Jiraiya was startled by the voice and turned around to see the girl standing there.

"I don't know what they told you, kid... But you are still too young for this kind of thing. You should be playing with your friends-" He didn't get to finish because Akiko interrupted him.

"I don't have any friends of my age. And this is what I decided I will do. I decide on what I want, not you, not anyone else-" Jiraiya was red with anger. The kid had to be brainwashed into thinking this was her duty.

"Don't you think you are a few years too young for that kind of decision?"

Akiko glared at him. "No, I don't. You might have known my father and my mother, but you don't know me! You know - you understand nothing! This is the first time we've met and you are already trying to take my free will just because of what you assume. Don't underestimate me, Jiraiya!"

Sarutobi coughed to get the attention of his former student before he started ranting and damaged the potential relations with him and the girl even more. "You heard her Jiraiya, it's her decision and she is more than ready to make this sort of decision and to back it up as well."

This did nothing to calm down the irate sannin. How could his sensei be so foolish. How could he allow her to do this, no - why he supported her in this? This was preposterous! "I see. Anything else you need?." The Kage shook his head in negative. "Good. I'm leaving the village, I'll send you intel when I have some."

And with that, he left. Sarutobi sighed wearily. "I'm sorry for this mess, but I had to do it. Jiraiya feels quite responsible for you because of your parent, but I want him to like you for who you are. And I know he will, once he gets over his fantasies and realizes you are your own person, but you are still kind, loyal and hard working - Jiraiya values that greatly. Please, give him some time. He'll calm down and come back - I'm sure of it."

Akiko nodded in understanding. Despite his lame jokes, Jiraiya seemed like good enough fellow. And he knew her parents, she just wished he would come to understand her and would see her as separate person - as Uzumaki Akiko, proud kunoichi to be, not Minato's and Kushina's kid that needed to be cut off from reality and held in a cage to make sure their last living legacy was untouched.

There was another thing though. "Danzo is ANBU-sensei's name."

Not a question. "As observant as ever. Shimura Danzo is the longest serving ANBU in Leaf and possibly in Elemental Continent. He is the second Supreme Commander of Leaf ANBU. S-Rank secret, you know the drill already."

"Thank you for trusting me so much."

The Hokage smiled, he was sure his trust wasn't misplaced.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 1400hrs, Saturday, 11/10 3034 EE, Rooftop Garden, Hokage Tower - Uzumaki Akiko, Orphan, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

The rest of the time spent learning chakra theory was quite entertaining and informative. Homura taught her pretty much everything there was to know about chakra and bits and pieces from other subjects, mainly biology - anatomy, so she could better understand it.

Koharu had finished the LCE with her which meant she would now be able to start doing exercises such as Solid Surface Walking, Liquid Surface Walking, which were also useful ninja skills that every high level ninja knew.

With Danzo, she trained mostly in stealth and it was already her second nature to try and remain out of sight, or act in a way that others wouldn't notice you. She was already good enough to do some small assassination/espionage/sabotage missions. It also helped with the annoying kids back at the orphanage.

Jiji was teaching her theory about shape manipulation and chakra compressing in order to prepare her to use the Chain Release. She learned quite a bit and believed she was ready. Still, the Chain Release was a bloodline that needed to be woken up, it wasn't like most of the chakra bloodlines which were accessible right after unlocking one's chakra.

During her birthday, Jiji promised she would get someone who would help her unlock it, someone who actually had some Uzumaki blood. She couldn't wait to meet them, she was sure they were really powerful. Speaking of her birthday, it was just small affair - a dinner and her sensei giving her some presents. But she liked it this way, not really being one for big 'party' with many people - kids from orphanage.

She really liked the presents she got, although they were not really something for your average five years old. From Jiji, she got a scroll on the history of Uzumaki clan, from Utatane-sensei book about herbs, from Mitokado-sensei a funny little thing called Rubik's Cube - apparently something imported from north-western continent, from Danzo a blank, but fully working ANBU mask and from Jiraiya a book called 'Legends of Sea Monsters' which was a nice compilation of myths and legends focused on sea monsters - that wasn't obvious at all. He also sent a letter with an apology, asking that she give him time to come to terms with how different she is from her parents.

Today, however, was time to continue with her training - no use in slacking off. The person which was supposed to train her today was already here. It was a woman, who looked about 25 years old, had flawless pale skin, beautifully shaped facial features and hazel eyes. She had long blonde hair which was held in a low ponytail, with two bangs framing her face and falling down to her waist - her hair was really long.

The woman wore standard hospital uniform, which consisted of shirt, pants and sandals - all of it in white colour. The outfit was quite baggy to conceal the figure of the one wearing it, but it didn't help with hiding this woman's chest which was quite prominent.

"You Akiko?" Akiko nodded dumbly - another sensei that didn't know how to greet people. "Great, name's Senju Tsunade. Before you start asking, yes I have Uzumaki blood - my grandmother was Uzumaki Mito, and no, my chakra isn't exactly like yours because it was changed by Senju genetics, but I have both the Superior Body Bloodline and Chain Release, don't have the Chakra Sealing Method though.

Don't need to know more than that for now, time's a wastin' so let's start the show. You need to meditate and reach out to your chakra. After you get fully into it, you have to picture it as a chain and then make it leave your body somewhere - just not, y'know, 'there'..." Tsunade laughed at her own joke and Akiko just thought her jokes were even lamer than Jiraiya's. She didn't know where "there" was, but something told her not to ask that just yet...

She sat down under her favourite tree and started meditating. Getting to her chakra wasn't a problem, nor was picturing it as a chain. Problem was getting it out of her body in that form. Something seemed to block her and after trying several things, she just decided to be done with it and pushed the chakra out with as much willpower as she could muster.

Which almost resulted in Tsunade being impaled by some of them as exactly 101 of them shot out of various places on her body - and no, not from "there", don't worry. The chains stopped at some ten meters and Tsunade just hoped the people who would see them sticking out of the rooftop would think she was throwing a fit. No need for rumours to get going and other villages suspecting a young Uzumaki being in Leaf. That would bring some serious trouble.

Fortunately, the chains soon retracted and the girl ended her meditation. "Not bad for a brat. You've figured it out real quick, the chains don't listen to just anyone, you have to have strong will to make them serve you. But they are really strong in a battle, not many people know how to counteract them - in fact, I have never met anyone who was able to come up with anything that would work against them. Now let's try a few exercises to teach you how to create the easily and quickly."

And so she did. The exercises weren't really taxing as most of the chakra returned back and wasn't burned down, but it was really hard to conjure the chains and she had to stop a few times to take a break. The chains really took much mental power to create and it made her head spin at times. If a normal person would try this, they would knock themself out.

Still, she made quite some progress and Tsunade gave her few exercises to try and few tips on how to lessen the dizziness. Akiko decided she would train with the chains in the morning before her lessons. She was up way before the morning lesson started, anyway.

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 2100hrs, Tuesday, 30/8 3036 EE, Rooftop Garden, Hokage Tower - Uzumaki Akiko, Uzumaki Heir, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki

Her initial training was over. Over the two years, she had learned and mastered all of what the academy had to offer and then some more. And all that thanks to one wonderful technique that she learned from Danzo-sensei.

Ah, the wonders of Shadow Clones... Her first ninjutsu, the "ultimate" clone technique, had helped immensely with her development. With it, she could study and train her body at the same time. Jiji wasn't very happy with Danzo teaching it to her, it wasn't listed as A-Rank Forbidden Technique for fun. But in the end, it really helped her.

Her lessons became way better with it - not to say they were useless and boring without it, but it allowed her to double, and close to end of her training, triple the pace. As such, she was actually able to finish the Academy curriculum five months prior to plan. She had easily learned all Mitokado-sensei taught her, from civilian topics such as mathematics, biology, physics through mixed subjects such as strategy, politics to ninja subjects such as shurikenjutsu theory and advanced anatomy, which dealt with chakra pathways, chakra coils and similar things. The rest of ninja related subjects - the major ones - were taught by her other sensei.

Her physical prowess was way higher than any other six years old could hope to have. Her body was naturally small, but she packed quite a punch, she was fast and nimble and thanks to her endurance and pain tolerance, she was really deadly in taijutsu. She mastered the Academy Taijutsu style quite easily - it wasn't really that complicated. After that, she started learning Fast Fist, a style her sensei picked for her.

It was a style focused on speed and precise strikes at weak points. The defence was rather simple - no blocking or dodging, just simple running around the opponent so they didn't get the chance to attack properly. Overall, it suited her rather well, she was small and fast and had more than enough stamina. The only downside was that it was 'solo' only style as with its chaotic running around, it was hard to make combined attacks. It also didn't have many techniques, unlike Iron Fist or quite a few other taijutsu styles. She wasn't even close to mastering it yet, though. It was quite a bit more complicated than the Academy style.

With Utatane-sensei, she got through all of the chakra control exercises, both output and precision variations, with relative ease. Her genjutsu training went well too. She already mastered sensing and distinguishing genjutsu types, as well as two techniques for both area-of-effect and person applied genjutsu. For the wide area affecting genjutsu she knew 'Demonic Illusion: Rabid Wildlife', which was an low B-Rank technique, and 'Illusion Art: Rotting Corpse', low C-Rank technique. For the 'on person' type, she mastered 'Illusion Art: Chill', low D-Rank, and 'Illusion Art: Crawling Ants', high D-Rank. She knew a few other, but she hadn't mastered them yet.

Her knowledge on medicine included first aid, several kinds of herb recipes and 'Medical Art: Mystical Healing Palm' which she had mastered. She also knew a bit about poisons and antidotes, as well as few other things such as working ethics of med-ninja and similar. Coupled with her knowledge on Anatomy, she could be quite effective when healing injuries, but she lacked means and experience to perform more complicated operations.

With Jiji, she had mostly learned about things she could expect out in the field and on the missions. As such, he expanded on what she was taught by Homura - politics, bloodlines, famous styles - that kind of things. There were also a few other people she met, who had shown her various fighting styles, techniques and such things. She also met Mole-san again, although he had changed his mask for a Frog. She figured out who he was right away, his grumpy attitude giving him away. He had shown her quite interesting genjutsu techniques.

She also met Tsunade-chan a few times and quickly became 'friends' with the woman. She had quite strange antics, she didn't act like a Senju Clan Head at all. However, she was more than competent enough to hold the title. The Tree Release was truly terrifying... She had also met her adoptive son, Tenzo, once. Poor guy was subjected to some experiments when he was but an infant and Tsunade decided to take care of him.

Jiraiya also made an appearance once in a while. Their relations got much better, although there was still some tension between the two of them. Jiraiya still treated her like your average kid from time to time and Akiko didn't really like that. But his stories were entertaining, and some of his jokes actually weren't lame at all. He had some strange ideals and ideas though. Peace through love and understanding - things like that. Akiko thought that was rather naive, but decided to hold her tongue. Perhaps they were just dreams, not real goals. The man acted as a true seasoned shinobi, his stories showing he had shed blood more than once.

From Danzo, she had learned much that would really help her in her career. He ripped her naivety to pieces and then taught her the essentials - stealth, how to gather information, how to cover up tracks, counterespionage, how to survive in wilderness - things like that. She soon enough realized that these were the things that really mattered. This was what she would do most of her life - sneaking around and stealing... or killing.

Despite losing her illusions about ninjutsu being really important, she still liked it. With her Low A-Rank reserves, she had the potential to become a true ninjutsu powerhouse. She chuckled when she remembered how she thought ninja were flinging their techniques around like they were nothing. That was far from the truth, especially for high level techniques. Technique, that required Low A-Rank amount of chakra meant that someone with Low A-Rank reserves would spend their whole reserves in one go. You could do hundreds of techniques with A-Rank reserves, but they would have to be E, D or some low C-Rank ones. Taking into account the low amount of people with reserves above Mid B-Rank, it was quite obvious lengthy ninjutsu engagements were the pastimes of only some Elite Jonin and Kage level ninja.

The process of finding out about ones chakra was quite interesting. It was actually done with the help of a seal made by no other than Uzumaki clan. This seal was on a big scroll, on which she had to sit down and then push all of her chakra into it. It determined her chakra amount in Chakra Units of Chakra Measuring System which was now used in all of the Major Five and most minor villages. One chakra unit was the amount of chakra needed to perform 'Ninja Art: Substitution' with object half the mass of ninja and distance 2 meters - optimal conditions. The seal also took chakra differences into account, which meant raw amount of chakra was different.

When measured for the first time, she had 7303 ChU which was quite deep into Low A-Rank reserves. Second measurement which was done today revealed her reserves have grown a bit to 8007 ChU, still Low A-Rank, but it was an improvement. Raw amount was smaller, of course - 1825 and 2002, which was Mid B-Rank. That was still way more than anyone else of her age had.

The high amount of chakra helped her quite a bit with ninjutsu and allowed her to use the 'Ninja Art: Shadow Clone'. The technique itself was extremely hard even for her with her perfect chakra control. There were many aspects to master, from learning how to control the amount of chakra used to create the clone instead of using the standard amount through learning how to make the clones send only relevant information to using the technique without hand seals and incantation. Danzo wouldn't let her use the technique before she got the last part down perfectly, stating that it was a secret technique and as such, one had to be able to perform it at a certain level before being allowed to use it in public. The punishment for not following this rule was beheading - village secrets were sometimes worth more than a life of someone.

The technique was quite draining, requiring Low A-Rank amount of chakra - 6100 units to be precise. She learned how to control this amount, but if she wanted the clone to be able to do at least something for few hours, she still needed to give it at least half of the standard amount. The clones burned 15 chakra units per hour when they were idle - literally doing nothing. Even simple things like running around or reading a book doubled the consumption rate and things like chakra control exercises which required high amount of focus and critical thinking were on whole another level.

It was a high price - high reward kind of technique. The benefits were great, but they were far from free. But for her, with her already growing chakra reserves, the pros outweighed the cons. And so she learned and mastered the technique to a point where she didn't have to use the hand seals and incantation and the clones didn't make the smoke clouds and the loud 'poofing' noise when being created and dispelled.

Otherwise, Danzo didn't really teach her many techniques. He mainly stressed things like using them tactically and also to prefer to use the techniques for which she didn't need hand seals and incantation to prevent the enemy for preparing counter and to make it harder for others to reverse engineer her techniques.

The rest of the techniques were 'Ninja Art: Shadow Shuriken', 'Ninja Art: Shadow Kunai' - both Mid C-Rank, and one D-Rank for each basic element - 'Fire Release: Ember', 'Water Release: Water Ball', 'Wind Release: Breeze', 'Earth Release: Dust Clone' and 'Lighting Release: Light Bulb'. She had to master all of them to the ultimate level, Danzo really wasn't satisfied with anything but perfection. She also started mastering the techniques from her other sensei this way as well, although she did have to do it during her free time and thus couldn't master all of them.

The elemental chakra was quite a surprise though, unlike her normal chakra, it was volatile and it took quite a bit of effort to make the techniques work. Danzo told her she would be learning how to control the elements later and she knew it would be harder than the standard chakra exercises, but she was determined to succeed - going as far as vowing to master all elements, which was something only select few could do.

She had also grown quite fond of Danzo, more so than others. In fact, she actually liked him a bit more than Jiji. He was like a father to her, she saw him as a hero - as someone to look up to. Which also led to that one awkward time when she called him 'father'...

That part of her life was now over, though. Tomorrow, she would join ANBU Division R, also known as Root - the junior ANBU division focused on bringing up the most deadly and effective ninja from orphans of Fire Country. Only those, who have shown special talents were trained in Root. As such, many of the trainees were little thieves or bastards of bloodline clans. Root was the embodiment of the 'ends justify the means' proverb, it produced very effective ninja at the cost of their humanity. The kids were forced to grow up too fast and did unsavoury things from young age - many of them were screwed beyond a point of return and were unable to live normal life, so they stayed in ANBU until their very end.

Inhumane? Yes. But was it really a bad thing? They were given purpose other than survival. Many of them were saved from wasting their talents and lives, from becoming slaves, drug addicts and whores. They became the right hand of death, the silent protectors of Leaf - heroes in their own right. Besides, it wasn't like they were some emotionless drones or anything.

If she managed to survive this, she would become one of the best - she was sure of that. Eight years in Root and consecutive eight or more years in ANBU and she would be more than ready to face anything that would come her way...

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Village Hidden in Leafs, 2100hrs, Wednesday, 30/8 3036 EE, Kage Office, Hokage Tower - Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage, Sarutobi Clan Head

Hiruzen was silently awaiting Danzo. He knew the man would come, and he knew why exactly was the reason. He was quite glad Danzo wasn't slipping back into his old self and now even had someone who cared about him like family. He was sure they would both benefit from this.

True to his prediction, the door opened and the, soon to be ex-, Supreme Commander walked in. Before he could even start talking, Hiruzen signalled him to be quiet.

"I know why you are here. To tell you the truth, I have never really planned to make her Root, at least not in the standard way. And I agree with the second thing as well, you are like father and daughter and you both need family. So let's make this official.

Boar-001/0-0-SC, I demote you from the position of ANBU Supreme Commander into ANBU Division R - Training and Education Officer, designation: Boar-001/T-R-8401-Epsilon. From tomorrow onwards, Uzumaki Akiko, from now on known as Eagle-907/E-R-8402-Epsilon, will be your personal apprentice and you will both become special part of ANBU Division R, under my direct command. You will have full authority over her and her training, but I suggest you have her go to at least few lessons, especially the teamwork and practical sexual education ones when she is old enough. Eight years, Danzo – all is in your hands. Don't. Fuck. Up. Understood?

Now, the last thing. Shimura Danzo, from today onwards, you will become the single legal guardian of one Uzumaki Akiko without access to her resources. If you consent, please sign here."

Hiruzen gestured to a paper he had on the table. Danzo didn't question or say anything, too happy to do anything else than oblige. He wasn't this happy in years, the girl had really grown on him.

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**End, The.**

**See ya next time…**


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